The Spurs' marathon has taken a toll

Updated 10:04 am, Friday, April 12, 2013

Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

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Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

The Spurs' marathon has taken a toll

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Grinding their way to the end of the NBA's 82-game marathon, the Spurs are encountering their own version of Heartbreak Hill, the long, uphill stretch of the 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton to Boston that has tortured real marathoners each April in New England since 1897.

Veterans Manu Ginobili and Boris Diaw have dropped by the wayside in the last two weeks — Ginobili with a strained right hamstring, Diaw a sprained lower back.

Point guard Tony Parker, who has vowed to play for the first time in a week when the Spurs face the Kings on Friday night at the AT&T Center, is still working his way back to the level that made him the team's leading scorer and put him among those who will receive MVP votes when they're cast next week.

For team captain Tim Duncan, the litany of recent injury misfortune is fine irony. Just as he has regained his offensive rhythm after recovery from his own scary ailment, the Spurs are literally limping toward the playoffs.

“All season long, all I've asked is for us to be healthy at the right time,” Duncan said after a 96-86 loss to the Nuggets on Wednesday dropped them into second place, behind Oklahoma City, in the Western Conference standings. “We've lost a lot of games with a lot of different people this season, and we're still sitting pretty good. We've had guys step up. We've had guys fill in.

With four games remaining and a three-game lead over the third-place Nuggets, any combination of Spurs' victories and Nuggets' losses totaling two will secure no worse than the No. 2 playoff seed for the Spurs.

But at the moment, seeding is the least of the Spurs' concerns.

“You don't worry about your playoff seeding because if that makes you play (injured players) when they shouldn't be playing (them), you're going to be screwed come playoff time anyway,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who always errs on the side of caution with bringing injured players back. “Your main concern is to have people be as healthy as possible come playoff time.

“If you're the best team, the seeding doesn't really matter. You wouldn't give up first, second, third or fourth seed and say, 'Yes, please give me fifth or sixth.' Nobody would do that, but the best team doesn't have to have the best record. It has to be healthy.”

Duncan understands the folly of pushing players back onto the court before they're ready. His recent resurgence after missing four games with a knee injury in early February was more than a month in the making. He struggled with his rhythm and swore his shooting mechanics weren't right even after posting some impressive scoring performances.

In the four April games in which he has played at least 30 minutes, Duncan has averaged 26.5 points and 12 rebounds.

“It's being healthy and feeling good,” he said. “I've started to play well, things have started going my way a little more and Pop's started to play for me a little more. All that factors in, but when it comes down to it, it's just staying healthy and feeling good.”

One thing is certain: Popovich will tolerate no whining about his team's misfortune.

“We've had a pretty good year and then down the stretch, to have Tony and Manu go down you can sit there and say, 'Oh, poor us. Why did that happen?'” he said. “That's just silly. There's nothing you can do about it, so your main concern is having them as healthy as they can be come playoff time.”